Lightweight, portable seats and chairs of a type with which the present invention is concerned are enjoying increasing popularity for use in viewing sports activities, concerts and a wide variety of other outdoor activities such as camping, boating, hunting, fishing and the like, normally lacking adequate preexisting seating accommodations. Such lightweight, portable seats are also desired for use in arenas and stadiums, where typically sit on preexisting bleachers or benches. However, such preexisting seating accommodations often lack sufficient back support for spectators.
Folding chairs are currently available in a wide variety of designs, but generally lack the desired degree of portability for ideal usage. Such folding chairs are especially unsuited for use in arenas and stadiums, where the chairs cannot fit over or around the preexisting bleachers or benches.
Lightweight portable seats are currently available on the market for use on stadium bleachers and benches, but are often difficult to set-up and break down, do not collapse to sufficient small size for transport and storage, and often do not have suitable back support, thereby offering little improvement over the preexisting bleacher or bench. Commonly, such seats comprise just a padded cushion that provides more comfort than a solid bleacher or bench. However, lightweight portable seats that do not have suitable back support, such as padded cushions, are consequently uncomfortable when used for a prolonged period of time.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a lightweight, portable seat that can be easily collapsed into a small bundle for transport and storage, and as easily set-up for use as a seat. There is also a need for such a seat that provides sufficient back support for a user, especially in a situation where preexisting seating accommodations either don't exist, or do not provide any back support for a seated spectator.
Accordingly, it is the general aim of the present invention to provide an improved, lightweight, portable, and collapsible seat intended for use on a level surface, such as a stadium bleacher or a bench, which provides back support for a user, and which further is easily collapsible into and retained in a compact bundle for transport and storage. It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a seat having a back support and arms that do not affect or interfere with the collapsing of the seat to a bundled condition or the set-up of the seat into an open, set-up condition, and which further do not compromise the size of the bundled condition of the seat for transport and storage.